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Nunsense: The Mega-Musical Version

The original Nunsense (1985) is a musical comedy with a book, music, and lyrics by Dan Goggin. A new version named Nunsense: The Mega–Musical Version is a remake of the original featuring additional songs, lines, and characters, performed by CADOS based at Mornington Hall in Chingford.

The musical is staged by a group of sisters from the Little Sisters of Hoboken nunnery. The rest of the nuns have died of botulism after being served soup prepared by a less-than-competent cook, and four of them still need to be buried – so the Mother Superior and the surviving nuns have set up a talent show to raise the money.

The show was pretty much as bizarre as it sounds. One of the songs involved the nuns explaining how they were formed: they worked in a leper colony near France but had to leave after some of the nuns developed leprosy. There are dance routines, Broadway-style musical numbers, puppetry and even an audience quiz. The nuns include Sister Mary Amnesia, who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head; Sister Mary Leo, who hopes to become the world’s first ballerina nun; Mother Superior Mary Regina, a former circus performer; and her second-in-command, Sister Mary Hubert. The performers were strong, although the sound meant that it was sometimes difficult to hear some of the lyrics. I liked the catchy songs and enjoyed the various Broadway parodies.

Full of more nun-based jokes than you can shake a stick at, Nunsense is highly amusing and well worth seeing if you can.